valentine



(No Model.)

B. E. VALENTINE.

COLD AND FIRE PROOI1 STORAGE BUILDING. No. 298,522.

UNITE il;

NEIGE@ artnr 'i BENJAMIN E. VALENTINE, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES S. HIGGINS, OF SAME PLACE.

COLD AND FIRE PROOF STORAGE-BULDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 150.298,522, dated May 13, 1884.

Application filed January 1G, 1884. (Noinodol.)

1"@ all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN E. VALEN- TINE, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cold and Fire Proof Storage-Buildings; and I do hereby declare that the following speciiication, taken in connection with the drawings annexed to and forming part of the same, furnishes a fulland clear description thereof, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and operate the same.

My invention has for its object the providing of a place of cool storage for those articles whose consistency and preservation are affect ed by heat, and a place of safe storage for those articles which are of easy combustibility.

It is well known to those familiar with the trades that many articles-such as tallow, oils, fats, ne-which are preserved with comparative ease in packages ata low temperature will, if stored in the usual manner, or if subjected to changes of temperature by atmospheric heat, undergo changes in their consistency, which cause leakage and often a considerable percentage. of waste. Most of such materials are also very combustible, readily ignited, and difficult to save from complete destruction in case of a re in their place of storage. rIhere are many other articles which, though not susceptible to the changes of consistency, it is equally desirable to protect against dangerous combustion. Heretofore, in case of an accidental ignition of oils and similar products when stored in large quantities in bulk or packages, it has been almost impossible to extinguish them, as, by reason oftheir lighter gravity, water has but little effect thereon, and many of such substances will readily burn while floating upon the water.

In the drawing the iigure represents crosssection of my improved store-house.

In my method of cold and ire proof storage I select a location which is adjacent to, and preferably entirely surrounded by, water@for example, a small natural or articial island in a harbor or other body of water. In this location (shown in the drawing at A) I excavate or build, by means of caisson or coffer-dam, a vault whose bottom shall be at all times below the watenline, and the top of will allow the flow of water from one compart-y ment to the other. These apertures are opened or closed by gates K, operated in any suitable and well-known manner. At the bottom of the vault a large main or pipe, J, for the admission of water is also constructed, leading from the outer bulk-head to the body of water surrounding the store-house, and is opened and closed by the gate K2, operating at the outside wall in a similar manner, to regulate the admission or ilow of water. A second main, IWI, for the admission of water, may be provided at just below high-water mark, or near the top of the vault, which latter main,

conducted across the top of the vault, is proi vided with branches I, leading into each bulkhead, so that the water flowing into this upper main can be diverted at will into any or all of the bulk-heads from above, the admission of the water being controlled by means of gates II in said branches. One or more pumps, P, operated by steam are placed upon the top of the vault, above the water-line, with their suction-pipes It leading to the bottom of the vault. Above the vault a covered store-house of any suitable construction is built, in which are operated the engines, machinery, e., necessary for pumping, lowering, hoisting, 85o. The whole house above the vault may also be used for the storage of articles whose temperature it is not important to keep at a low degree, or which are not especially combustible.

It will be seen by the construction which I have described th at articles which require to be kept at a low temperature can be deposited directly from ships in the vaults aforesaid; that said vaults being watertight, but

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situated below the level of the surrounding l water, will bekept ata temperature which will seldom equal and need never exceed that of the surrounding water; that in case of fire, or in case it is desired for any other reason to introduce water into the vaults, the same can be introduced from above from the main M or from below by the main J, or any compartment can be flooded by the branches l.

In case it is necessary to iiood the vaults or bulk-heads wherein oils or other materials of a lighter gravity than water are stored, iron bands or rods N may be constructed on the inner side of the arched vaults, which shall protect the masonry from the upward pressure of the packages, which would otherwise lioat, and retain them submerged without injury to the masonry.

Having thu sdescribed my improved method of storage, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A warehouse consisting of a vault or vaults built below the water-level and surrounded by a natural or artificial embankment of earth, as shown at A, around which is the sea or other natural body of water, said vaults being normally free from water, but provided with means, substantially as described, for flooding them.

2. A warehouse having vaults built below the water-level, provided with means for being flooded and emptied, as desired, and surrounded by a natural or artificial embankment of earth, as shown at A, and outside of the embankment by the sea or other natural body of Water, and having a superstructure erected over said warehouse-vaults, said superstructure serving` the purpose of an ordinary ware house.

3. A vault for cold and fire proof storage consisting of .a wholly or partially submerged vault divided into compartments, substantially as described, and provided with mains M and J, for the access of water, and gates H K, for regulating the supply thereof, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. The cold and lire proof vault, constructed substantially as described-to wit, in sub-v merged compartments provided with one or more mains, and branches for admitting the i'low of water, the pump I), and the gates H K, substantially as and for the purposes described.

, BENJ. E. VALENTINE.

Vitnesses:

Jol-IN C. BosrnLMANN, THOMAS F. MAGUER. 

